Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A Big Bucket of Cake Batter

While I was on vacation, I began sketching out my ideas for a historical fiction series very loosely based on my ancestors lives.  No one is alive to tell their stories, and I only have some ancestry.com research that's sketchy at best. 

The thing I discovered about my grandparents and their grandparents and so on is this:  one generation after the next had no hope of bettering their economic situation.  They were in survival mode, most of them farming on a rocky hillside that they didn't even own to feed their own families.  Some worked in the coal mines and one was a minister.  There's a mix of Cherokee Indian in every branch of the tree. 

Most of the boys up to my great-grandparents generation didn't attend school.  They were listed on the census forms as farm laborers at the age of eleven and twelve.  My son is eleven.  I can't imagine him being done with school and pushing a plow as a full time job.  I can't even get him to vacuum his room.

I have an idea of how I want to write the stories.  I literally sketched it out while on vacation - a drawing of a mountain - the farther up the tiny houses are, the worse off the people's lives are. 

I'm really excited to get this started, but it feels a lot like trying to make seven or eight different cakes out of one huge bucket of batter.  Imagine a huge Hobart mixer with the beginnings of a whole lot of yummy treats in it.  Each cake/story needs to be distinct and stand on its own, but coordinate with the rest.  It's exciting and daunting at the same time.

I wrote everything on paper in a little journal including several random chapters.  My handwriting is almost impossible to read.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, but I need to dive in while it's still fresh in my mind.

I'll be back when I get this under control and finish those last three chapters of my WIP that I really wish I had written before vacation.


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Next post:  Tools to keep track of time lines in historical fiction.



12 comments:

  1. It sounds an interesting concept - go for it! You're right about our ancestors never really getting a chance to better themselves for generations. It shows what chances are offered us these days.

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    1. I've been poor and have seen difficult times, but I've never been in a position where I didn't have hope that things would get better.

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  2. I've never researched my ancestors much. I've just never been that curious about them.

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    1. I walked into a diversity class and was immediately given a name tag that said "Urban Appalachian." WTH was my immediate response and I demanded an explanation. How could they tell that's where my parents came from? I had a college degree and was wearing a suit. Apparently they walk around with me wherever I go. :)

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  3. I bet you can do it!
    Yeah kids today would curl up and die if they were transported back a hundred years or so.

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    1. There would be lots of whining first. :) I'd be right there leading the pack of complainers.

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  4. Ooo! I'd love to read that. I love history, even somebody else's. It'd make fantastic story.

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  5. It was a tough life back then, but makes for fascinating reading.

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    1. I am having a lot of fun coming up with characters and just trying to figure out how they got out of bed every day and kept moving. My mom's great grandma was half-Cherokee. I'm trying to imagine how that went down when she found out she was pregnant, presumably unmarried, not sure.

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  6. Good luck with diving in. It sounds wonderful and exciting all at once. I love this early stage of writing.

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  7. It sounds like that would be an interesting read, to show the progression of the family through to your son. Good luck!

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